Tennis ball holder



Aug. 3, 1937. A. w. STEIN TENNiS BALL HOLDER Fi led sept. 17, 1956um||||||| I I l I INVENTOR )7. we? ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 3, 193? NlTEDsrTES P OFFICE 7Claims.

This invention relates to tennis ball containers and more particularlyto a container adapted to be carried by a tennis racket press.

It is customary, in playing tennis, for each i player to carry, inaddition to the tennis racket and racket press, three tennis balls.Heretofore, the tennis balls have been carried by hand, which wasinconvenient, or have been carried in a fabric pocket of a fabric tennisracket cover, where the 1 tennis balls are subjected to being easilycrushed and mutilated.

It is an object of my invention to provide a protective tennis ballcontainer made of metal, having semi-spherical ends to conform to the iconfiguration of the tennis balls, and to provide a holder for removablysecuring the protective tennis ball container to the tennis racketpress.

A further object of my invention is to provide a holder of the classdescribed having integral means to enable it to be secured, with equaleflicacy, to racket presses of various dimensions.

A further object of my invention is to provide a holder for tennis ballcontainers comprising two spring clip members provided with armsremovably secured to the racket press bolts, the

spring clip members being removably and adjustably secured together byany suitable means.

These and other advantageous objects, which will later appear, areaccomplished by the simple D and practical construction and arrangementof parts hereinafter described and exhibited in the accompanyingdrawing, forming part hereof, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a device made 7 5 in accordancewith my invention, shown applied to a tennis racket press,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my device, Fig. 3 is a, longitudinalvertical'sectional view taken on lines 3--3 of Fig. 2, i Fig. 4 is aperspective view of a modified form of the invention,

Fig; 5 is a side elevational view, partly in section, of a furthermodification of the invention,

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the spring 5 clip members used inthe form of invention shown in Fig. 5, and,

Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional view taken on,

line 1-1 of Fig. 1,

Fig; 8 is a side elevational view, partly in sec-- 1 tion of a furthermodified form of the invention,

and Fig. 9 is an end view of the same. Referring to the drawing, in Fig.2 the device is shown to comprise two interchangeable spring c ps e h ofch has a pa r of arms 9 pivoted thereto at III, the free ends ll of thearms being secured to the comers of a tennis racket press I! by thumbscrews 13 of the racket press bolts H. The spring clips 8-8 are providedwith downwardly directed flanges I5 (see 5 Fig. "3) through which a tierod l6 passes, the tie rod having ahead I1 abutting the flange I5 of onespring clip and the other end of the tie rod l6 being threadedly engagedby a nut l8 engaging the fiange l5 of the other spring clip. By thisarrangement, thedevice is adjustable and can .be applied with equaleflicacy to racket presses of various dimensions, and the tie rod willat all times firmly secure the spring clips together. 1 15 A tennis ballcontainer I9 is adapted to be snapped into the spring clips 8 and willbe firmly held in that position (Figs. 1 and '7) until manuallywithdrawn.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 4, the .tie rod I6 is dispensedwith and a single, elongated spring clip 28 is used, said clip havingarms 29 pivoted thereto at 30, the apertured ends 3| of the arms beingsecured to the corners. of the racket press by the racket press thumbscrews I3 as with the structure shown in Fig. 2, or may be secureddirectly to the racket press by passing screws through the apertures 3|.

As clearly shown in Fig. 3, the tennis ball container preferablycomprises the elongated cylin- 30 drical body 32 having a semi-sphericalend 33 conforming to the spherical configuration 'of the tennis balls,and having an open end 34 which is closed by a cover 35 removablysecured to the container body 32 in any desired or convenient 35 manner.The cover 35, like the end 33 of the container body, is semi-sphericalto conform to the configuration oi the tennis balls. The constructiondescribed reduces to an absolute minimum the amount of free space, andtherefore the 40 amopnt of air, within the container, thereby preservingthe resiliency and spherical configuration of the tennis balls held insaid container. The tennis balls are also protected from injury and areinstantly available by either removing the container itself from thespring clips 8 or by removing the cover 35 of the container.

In the modification shown in Figs. 5 and 6,- the spring clip 8 isprovided with an end clip 35. With this form of spring clip it ispossible to use the ordinary commercial tennis ball container, which hasa flat end 31. The commercial tennis ball container also has a fiat topmember which is discarded when the metal seal of the container isbroken, in originally removing the 5 tennis balls. The container thenhas an open end 38 and by resting the flat end ll of the containeragainst the end clip 36 of one spring clip 8, and allowing the endtennis ball within the container to rest against the endclip 38 of theother spring clip, the tennis balls and container will be held firmly inplace on the racket press. I

The form of invention shown in Fig. 8 is like that shown in Fig. 5except'that only one spring clip 8 is used; instead of a second springclip 8 there is provided a rigid end member 40 having a peripheralflange ll and having depending flanges 42 to receive the tie-rod IS. Theopen end 38 oi. the tennis ball container is received within theperipheral flange ll of the end member 40, and the flat, closed end 31of the container is snapped into the spring clip 8. By this arrangementthe normally open end 38 01 the container is closed.

By means of this construction, the ordinary commercial tennis ballcontainer, after the cove has been removed, canbe permanently utilizedas a tennis ball container.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided adevice for holding tennis balls'which can be readily attached tostandard Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A holder for tennis ball containers comprisinga 'spfing'clip, andarms pivotally secured to said clip the iree ends of said arms beingadapted to be secured to a tennis racket press.

2. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, armspivotally secured to said clips the free ends of said arms being adaptedto be secured to a tennis racket press,- and means carried by saidspring clips for adjustably securing said clips together.

3. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, saidclips having flanges, means ior securing said clips to a tennis racketpress,

and means carried by the flanges of said clips for adjustably securingsaid clips together.

4. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, saidclips having flanges, means for securing said clips to a tennis racketpress, and bolt means engaging the flanges of said clips for adjustablysecuring said clips together.

5. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips adaptedto engage opposite sides of a tennis ball container, said spring clipsbeing provided with end clip members adapted to engage the ends of atennis ball container.

6. A holder for tennis ball containers comprising spring clips, meansfor securing said clips to a tennis racket press, and means foradjustably curing said clips together. 'l. A holder for tennis ballcontainers comprising spring clips, adapted to engage'opposite sides ofa tennis ball container, said spring clips being provided with endmembers adapted to engage the ends of a tennis ball container.

-ALBERT w. STEIN.

